Holovids
by jansonpls
Summary: Twenty years after the war, a girl finds her dad's holorecordings from the war


*The idea for this came after reading Tarc's meeting with Wolam Tser in Rebel Stand

*set about twenty years after Unifying Force (but spoilers to Rebel Stand)

*Take the K/J any way you want. ;)

~~

Kali shuffled through the holovids carefully, reading the label on each one before placing it either back on the shelf, or on the pile beside her. This was one store she hadn't found before, that her father – Tam Elgrin – had kept separate. They were from the Yuuzhan Vong war, more than twenty years ago.

Satisfied that the most interesting ones were in the pile on the floor, she scooped them up and carried them to her room, dumping them on her bunk. She figured she had a few hours in which to watch them, before her father came home. Not that he'd mind; he was always on at Kali to study history more often, and wasn't this the best way to learn?

She checked the labels again to decide which to watch first, and one in particular caught her eye. 'Danni Quee, Borleias, 9/9/28'. Danni… the name sounded familiar. Kali shrugged and slid the vid into the projector, sitting back to watch it.

The image flashed into life, kept steady by her father's expert hand. It showed a young woman, beautiful, with blonde hair tied back, studying something at a desk and frowning. Suddenly, she realised she was being filmed and looked up, smiling when she saw who it was.

"Hey, Tam. Feeling any better?"

"Yeah," Tam's voice came from behind the holocam. "Been fine for a while. You mind if I film your work? You're not doing anything top secret and all that, right?"

Danni laughed lightly, shaking her head. "Just trying to figure why my comm isn't transmitting. Probably just that the power's low, actually."

"Oh, well, here." The camera shook slightly, and after a moment, Tam's hand came into view, holding a small power pack. "Found that a couple hours ago, fully charged. Some mechanic's not keeping good track of his equipment, leaving it lying around where anyone could pick it up."

"Right. And would it happened to have been left beside where the mechanic was working, while he was still working there?"

Tam's answer was overly innocent. "The accusations! And I thought you were supposed to be a nice little scientist!"

Danni laughed again, her green eyes sparkling. "I guess these Rebels are a bad influence."

"You should stop hanging round with them, then. Come learn something about holocams!"

"Too much work… sorry, Tam." Her regret seemed genuine, and she shook her head. "Which I better get back to."

"Take it this is the top-secret stuff I can't film."

"Yup. Sorry."

"Alright. Guess I better go check on Tarc; see he's not harassing too many people. Catch up with you later, Danni."

Danni gave a little wave, and the image faded into black as the recording ended. The projector spit the vid out, and Kali returned it to its case, thinking.

So Danni was that scientist on the Borleias base, the one her father mentioned occasionally, always with a little wistful note in his voice. She understood why, now – or at least, she thought she did. Another possible relationship that hadn't worked out in the war – there had been far too many of those.

Kali sighed as she picked up the next vid, frowning at the label. This one was scrawled in childish letters – probably Tarc's, Kali thought, remembering the holocam assistant who had moved away a few years ago. Off on his own, no longer needing Tam to teach him, though they still kept in touch. Kali squinted to read the label on the vid – 'The Goddess, Borleias, 9/9/28'. 

The Goddess… That sounded familiar too, something else from the war. Maybe she really _should_ study history more. Once again, she slipped in the vid and settled back on her bunk as the image sprang to life.

It was of a comfortable pilot's lounge, presumably in the base at Borleias during the brief occupation there. Various chairs were thrown randomly around the room, but the image focused on a larger couch, where two people sat, arguing good-naturedly about something, just outside the camera's audio range.

One was a man, in his mid-thirties, with too-long black hair, shot through with silver. He was dressed in black clothes, terribly old-fashioned – but then, just right for twenty or so years ago. The other was a woman, around five or six years older than Kali, with straight dark-brown hair to her shoulders. She was dressed in a simple flight suit, something neat and tidy – obviously, she had _not_ just come back from a mission.

Both of them turned to face the camera, as the shaky image moved forward, and the young woman frowned. "Tarc? What are you doing here? How'd you get in?"

The camera moved as Tarc gestured back to the door. "It was unlocked. I just wanted – Tam and Wolam told me to interview as many people as I could – I wondered if I could interview you. You know, for the records. I'm gonna be a historian," he added proudly.

The black-haired man glanced at the woman and smirked. "Sure, kid. Go ahead."

"No, Kyp and I need to head out and… uh… get to the sims…"

"Nonsense, Goddess. Plenty of time to give the kid his interview."

The woman shot Kyp a glare and he simply smirked again, and she sighed. "I guess. OK, Tarc. The Goddess has granted you an audience."

"Great, Jaina – I mean, Goddess – thanks. Um… OK. So… intros first." Tarc cleared his throat. "This is holocam operator Tarc, and today I'm here to interview the Goddess, Jaina Solo, and her manservant, Kyp Durron."

Kyp's smirk fell away, and Jaina gave him one of her own. "That's right."

Clumsily, Tarc zoomed in a little closer – too closely, at first, and the wall filled the view before he corrected it. "OK, Goddess. Uh… Is it true that you're really the Trickster, Yun-Harla?"

Jaina forced a regal expression. "Of course. I am here among the infidels to teach my petty Yuuzhan Vong followers a lesson they are long overdue."

Kyp's muffled laughter could be heard just outside the visual range, and Tarc brought the camera round to face him, just as Jaina hit him in the shoulder. Kyp coughed and straightened, looking into the camera and smirking.

"Alright. Master Durron – what do you think of the Goddess' plans?"

"Oh, I am but a lowly manservant, unfit to offer such opinions."

Jaina hit him again. "The Goddess commands her manservant to give his opinion."

"The Goddess' manservant will do so only if the Goddess promises not to hit him anymore."

"The Goddess' manservant had better start talking, or the Goddess will hurt him even worse."

"Well, maybe I'll just stay quiet then."

Jaina raised her fist, and Kyp pretended to be scared. "Ooh, please don't hurt me, Goddess. I'll talk!"

"Are you going to answer my question, Master Durron, or are you just going to sit and flirt with Jaina?"

Jaina turned slightly red, and Kyp laughed. "Do I really have a choice?"

The camera panned from side to side as Tarc shook his head, and Kyp mock sighed as it stilled. "OK. Well, I think the Goddess' plans are perfect, as always. In fact, they're almost as perfect as the Goddess herself."

Yet again, Jaina hit him in the shoulder – though not as hard as last time.

"What? Fine, in that case, I think they're terrible, and a one-year-old could come up with better plans. In fact, let's go and get Ben on it right now."

"You are insufferable, Durron."

"Now, if that were true, you wouldn't be here with me just now."

"Hey, can we get back to the interview? I didn't come here to watch you guys flirting all day. I have some serious work to do!" Tarc's voice was indignant, as only a child's could be when people aren't taking him seriously.

"I am not… _flirting_, as you so elegantly put it, Tarc." Jaina's voice was a little icy. Well, a lot icy. "I am merely trying to teach my manservant to respect my authority over him. He's a slow learner."

"I think I need some extra lessons, Goddess. One on one tuition." Kyp winked at Jaina, and she flushed a little.

Tarc's sigh was one of disgust as he zoomed out. "I'll let you get back to it. Interview terminated at… uh… seventeen-thirty. Have fun with your 'lessons'."

The last shot before the image faded was of a bright red Jaina hitting a laughing Kyp, and then the vid popped out of the projector again.

Kali marvelled at the vid as she put it back in its case. Jaina Solo and Kyp Durron, two of the galaxy's most famous heroes, messing about like… well… fighter pilots. Which, Kali mused, they were at the time… Still, comparing this vid with what she knew of them now was definitely strange.

Maybe she was taking an interest in history.

Now _that_ was a "shock horror" thought… Kali shuddered as she put the next vid in, labelled 'Goodbye, Borleias, 21/9/28'.

The image that popped up was a little different to the other two vids – more professionally recorded, with Wolam Tser in the screen, presenting an actual report.

"Our time on Borleias has been an interesting one, and absolutely vital to the historian's effort. We have managed to record many interviews and reports in the last few weeks, but now, our time is at an end. Behind me, you can see the docking bay of the base, crowded with pilots prepping fighters for a battle, and ships such as ours for an escape."

The camera panned round the hangar briefly, showing several civilian freighters and passenger ships, as well as a couple of fighter squadrons further out. Kali didn't recognise any of them in particular, but she could've sworn she saw Gavin Darklighter, if she squinted. 

The image focused on Wolam again, and he seemed faintly sad, although he was smiling. "This planet is about to fall to the Yuuzhan Vong, but it is with a certain pride I can say that I witnessed the battles, the lives of the pilots on this base, the bravery and determination of the New Republic military in a time of desperation. It's for moments like this that historians live. We record these times, file them away, store the moments on little discs for future generations to take out and look at and share in the memories.

"If there's someone watching this in the future, someone who doubts the stories people tell, someone who needs some reassurance that there were some real heroes in the past, that there will be again, they need look no further. These-"

Wolam spread his arms to indicate the docking bay, the pilots, the mechanics, even the refugees scrambling into freighters.

"-are the heroes of the present, of your past. _You_ are the heroes of the future. Normal, everyday people – but every one of you is a hero, every one of you has a story. We historians capture thousands of stories, thousands of memories, but there are countless more we miss that are worth more than we can ever imagine. It's up to you to capture the stories of your present and preserve them for the generations of your future. Every single one of us is a historian, every single moment worthy of capturing. 

"Remember Borleias, and remember those moments in your own life. Keep the memories close to you – history depends on it. This is Wolam Tser, out."

The image faded into darkness, and Kali reached out slowly to return the vid to its case. Wolam's words had struck something in her, and she couldn't quite figure out what it was, or why. They made her feel a little more confident, a little more curious… She wasn't quite sure.

She did know one thing though – she'd been wrong to dismiss history so quickly. It was a lot more interesting than _her_ life!

She smiled as she slotted in the next vid, and the next, getting caught up in the images of random pilots, anonymous refugees, everyday people that everyone forgot. 

All of them heroes.


End file.
